Christmas card

With so many of our siblings moving out on their own this year, we ran out of Christmas cards pretty quickly! I meant to order another batch and send out more to our friends, but it just never happened. Don't be offended if you didn't get a card- unless you are family, you probably didn't get one! Here's an e-card and letter for you now.

Merry Christmas! 2014 has been an incredible year! Here is what we have been up to. (Although if you follow my blog, you probably know all of this anyway.)

All of us:
Our biggest adventure was selling our first home and buying a new home! We love our new place. It is exactly the same amount of square footage, so it's not exactly an upgrade, but the lack of stairs is amazing! We are also happy to be in a better school district for Parker.

We also are thrilled to be expanding our family! Baby #2 will join us in June of 2015. Any guesses to the gender?

Jonathan:
Jon went to see his younger sister, Amanda, get married over the summer. He had a great time catching up with his parents and siblings in Salt Lake. Amanda was a beautiful bride, and Nate is a welcome addition to the family. Jon also received a promotion at work. He celebrated his 7 year anniversary with the company this March.

Sarah:

Sarah also got to see a younger sister get married! Carolyn was married in the St. George LDS Temple to Derek. Sarah enjoyed spending time with her siblings at the wedding in Utah, as well as a few crazy days in Las Vegas. (By crazy, we mean ordering 20 flavors of soda at Coca Cola world.) Sarah began volunteering at a suicide prevention line in June and has enjoyed using her skills to help others.

Parker:
Parker continues to keep us all on our toes. He enjoys racing, running in circles, and jumping on things. He started pre-school this fall and loves it. He is learning so much! He is a bright little boy and Sarah is constantly thinking of new ways to challenge him. He has recently started putting together jigsaw puzzles. He is also obsessed with the alphabet and counting things. We are lucky to have a boy who enjoys learning so much! He is pretty clueless about Sarah's pregnancy, though. We talk to him about the baby and it clearly goes right over his head.

2014 has been a wild ride and we can't wait to see what 2015 brings us!

While shepherds watched their flocks....

Clearly those shepherds were not paying attention....

TASTE IT

P had a comprehensive developmental evaluation yesterday due to some speech concerns. He's been thriving in preschool and speech therapy so my concerns are no longer concerns.... but I still wanted to check things out. He is average in expressive communication (THANK GOODNESS since that was our main concern) and above average in receptive communication, social skills, fine &gross motor. He was off the charts with visual problem solving-Apparently he tested above average for a 5 year old. (That's as far as the test went, its possible that it's even higher).

My head was starting to get pretty inflated as I heard the results. P quickly brought me back down to earth when I gave him a few new matchbox cars and he insisted on tasting all of them.

Interesting article. Also, I am famous

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/could-your-childs-genes-increase-your-rheumatoid-arthritis-risk-111014

Bookworm

First trimester hilarity

In the past 12 hours, I had 2 instances of something I love smell so bad to me that I nearly threw up. (My dog, and spaghetti squash.) I then became so emotional about not getting to cuddle my dog/eat squash that I started crying and could not be consoled.

Progesterone is hilarious.

Puppums

Big baby

Chores

Love my little helper.

Farm Fun

We had a ton of fun at Phillips farm!

Potty training

I wish we could put a comfy chair in here for me....

My not so little baby

Potty training woes

It drives me NUTS how all the books/articles/blog posts go on and on about not pushing your child to potty train... but NEVER mentions what to do if your young 2 year old is roughly the size of a kindergartener and literally does not fit into diapers any more. I guess it's time to start looking at medical supply stores?? We are going to try potty training next week... we will see...

Easy Rolo cookies

1 package devils food cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs

Stir until combined.

Roll dough in small balls around Rolo candies (1 per ball).

Bake 350* for 8-10 minutes.

Bonus: unwrapping candies are great for fine motor skills!

Third breakfast

A benefit of waking up at 5 am... multiple breakfasts.

Sunday Birthday parties and keeping the Sabbath holy

As P gets older, he's getting more bday party invitations. Some of them are on Sunday. We decided on a set of guidelines for Sunday birthday parties.
1) we must be able to attend the party as a family
2) the party must be held at the hosts home (no Monkey Joe's, parks, etc)
3) parties cannot interfere with church attendance

We have had people over for cake on Sunday and it's always been a family centered  event. We don't have any family in the area, so it's either celebrate alone, or invite our adopted "aunts/uncles" and "cousins" over.

What does your family do?

Ugh

I hate that I have to miss out on family events because I'm too sick to travel.

Stuff no one tells you when you're diagnosed with RA.

Dangerous

Falling asleep around here is about as safe as falling asleep at a frat party.

Moving on up

He can climb the ladder at the playground without help!

Life without stairs

We have been in our new RANCH STYLE home for about a day now and awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. I have learned to live with my disease, but it requires a lot of limiting my movement and conserving energy. I had fallen into several routines that kind of suck, but were necessary in order to make it through the day. For example, I wouldn't leave my room before Parker woke up because I didn't want to make an extra trip down the stairs. That's just ONE thing. There are dozens of equally limiting things that I was doing, just to avoid the pain of crawling up and down the stairs.

I am pleased to report that I just enjoyed my first breakfast without Parker trying to steal my cereal in TWO YEARS. P is snoozing away happily in his room and I am free to use the rest of the house as I please. I am free!!

Moving

We move next week. The packing has been hard, but we've had help from some awesome friends and that's made it easier. I am excited for the new place: handicapped accessible, fantastic schools, and near our current home so we won't have to change doctors etc.

It will be amazing to be able to access all of my home without difficulty. My RA was controlled when we bought our current home (which has stairs) and its been difficult to not have access to half of the house a lot of the time. Seriously I can't even imagine what this is going to be like. Life is going to be so much easier... I'm going to feel like I am cheating or something!

Prayers

Parker said his first prayer (with help) tonight. It was such a sweet moment for our family.

Confession

I let him watch a little extra TV today because I wanted to cuddle.

Hide n seek

He loves my maxi dresses

Bff

He thought it was SO COOL that Lady came to pick him up from school

Sesame Street is my SNL

Sesame Street: Les Mousserables (Les Mis Parody): http://youtu.be/GyYZfSmwH3c

Rain, Rain, go away

Don't come back until I've moved into my handicapped accessible house.

Soooo tired

That one week P slept in past 5 30 was the best week of my life. I swear, God sent me an early riser as some kind of joke.

In other news maybe I should break down and buy him pajamas that fit...

Distracted

P loves to cook with me, and most of the time I am happy to include him. Sometimes I need him out of the way, and the only way to get him out of my hair is to set him up with a bunch of dried beans and various cooking utensils.

Pre School

While all the other kids were crying because their parents were leaving... my lil guy was crying because I wouldn't let him steal another kids granola bar.

P turns 2

Love this kid. He drives me crazy, but he is such a sweetie. He is incredibly friendly to EVERYONE and loves to make new friends. He loves to laugh and make everyone around him laugh, too. He's always on the go. Always. Lightning McQueen is his hero. He enjoys reading and cooking with me. He is such a joy and I'm so happy he's a part of our family.

Last day as a 1 year old

Love this kid.

Seriously

Asked J to wrap Ps BIRTHDAY present.

Terrible twos

Right on schedule

Badminton

Backpack

P is starting preschool in 2 weeks and he is very proud of his backpack. I am looking forward to working at the suicide prevention hotline while he is at school.

Cheese snacks

P and I enjoy cooking together and these cheese snacks were so easy. Just line a cookie tray with parchment paper. Dump 2tbs piles of cheese on the paper. Bake 350* for 6 minutes. We used parmesan and cheddar.

Awwww

Parkers first wall art. I'm sure I'd find it significantly less cute if the house wasn't already sold and I was still.obsessing about showings. (Don't worry- we will fix it before we move)

What

I can't be the only one who matches their baby to their baby to their husband

We need to start saving for retirement

This one doesn't look like he will be able to support us in our old age

Selective memory

Me: I want to add Plaquinil to my regimen
Rheumatologist: you're allergic
Me: no, I'm not. You're crazy.
Rheumatologist: your chart says you tried it a few years ago and your skin peeled off.
Me: what?? No. I'm sure I would remember that.
Rheumatologist:....
Me: let me try it
Rheumatologist: if you insist
Me: give me the medicine

I'm a freaking idiot.

Singing in the rain

I tried (and failed) to teach him how to use an umbrella.

Beach baby

Summer fun

Spiderparker

I was super impressed with the (free!!) face painting provided at Park West Village during the back to school bash.

Here, kitty, kitty

Having fun at Petsmart

Blackout

If you see me around looking like I did my makeup in the dark, it's because I did.

Letters

Parker knows 18 letters, but one is his very favorite.  Can you guess which one?

Bittersweet